We began as the American Party of South Carolina founded by physician Oscar Lovelace and former South Carolina Superintendent of Education Jim Rex. Their impetus in starting the new party was to present an alternative to the Republican Party and Democratic Party that could address perceived government dysfunction. Rex and Lovelace began collecting the 10,000 petition signatures required for formal party recognition under South Carolina state law during the 2013 South Carolina State Fair. Voter discontent with the United States federal government shutdown of 2013, which coincided with the fair, helped invigorate an unusually robust level of interest in the proposed new party.
In 2014, the first year of electoral activity for the party, it unsuccessfully ran four candidates for public office in that year's South Carolina elections. The same year its youth wing, Young Americans, was established with an inaugural chapter at Winthrop University.
The party's 2016 state convention was attended by 61 delegates from nine South Carolina counties, and nominated Peter Skewes as its candidate for president of the United States, as well as candidates for five other offices. As of 2016, the party said it hoped to expand beyond South Carolina and it registered with the Federal Elections Commission the same year.
On October 14, 2018 a group of independent state political organizations, including the American Party, joined together to create the Alliance Party. Jim Rex served as the National Chair and is currently National Chair Emeritus and State Chair Oscar Lovelace is a member of the National Committee.
With America’s growing dissatisfaction with a failing, polarizing two-party system and recognizing there is strength in numbers and a deep desire to put people and country over politics and greed, On October 14, 2018, in Denver, Colorado, three political parties - the American Moderates Party, the Modern Whig Party and the American Party of South Carolina - agreed to merge to create the Alliance Party. On January 4, 2019, the Alliance Party officially registered with the Federal Elections Commission.
The following parties have merged into the Alliance since the merger of the original three:
Independence Party of Minnesota (2019) American Delta Party (2020)
American Alliance Party (2019) Reform Party of Florida (2020)
Independent Party of Connecticut (2020)
Prior to the 2018 meeting, six independent parties had merged into the Modern Whig Party between 2008 and 2016. These were the USA Party (2008), Veterans Party (2008), American Centrist Party (2010), Center Party (2010), National Centrist Party (2011) and the American Moderate Party of California (2016)
Discussions are under way with other like-minded, independent, grassroots parties and organizations to join the Alliance.
America, We Have A Problem
A video made in Denver, 2018